Dried fruits with apple, nuts, warm spices and rum, make for the perfect winter fruit pie with cookie cutouts on top for an easy and rustic winter pie.
Dried Fruit – Winter Fruits
All summer long we indulge in strawberries, peaches, melons and a huge variety of farmer’s market fruits grown throughout America.
Winter arrives and the pickings are slim, often thinking we only have apple pie for our fruit desserts.
For sure apples hang around long into the winter but the real fruit dessert to incorporate into winter cooking is dried fruits.
Dried fruits are loaded with natural sugars, which mean less sugar is needed in the recipes we put them in.
Dried Fruits For Winter
Coming from a Mediterranean heritage, dried fruits are used in both our sweet and savory cooking.
A Lamb Tajine wouldn’t be as flavorful or tender without the addition of dried apricots, raisins or dates.
Of course a luscious spiced Moroccan Rice definitely calls for dried fruits.
While cookies, cakes and pies often have dried fruits, I have created new and different dried fruit treats from the ones I grew up with.
Healthy treats and to-go snacks that are loaded with protein, vitamins and nourishment.
No Bake Energy Bites are a must try!
How To Soften Dried Fruits
Obviously dried fruits lose the bulk of their volume when dehydrated from fresh to dried, even though the flavor can become more intensified. Simply look at the grape and then the raisin, or plum and the prune.
At first, when I began to add dried fruits to my Homemade Granola mix, I baked them in with the grain and nuts, which nearly broke a tooth when I bit into them.
Bringing life back to these dried fruits we love, simply required a short soak.
Afterwards, adding the same dried fruits to my granola mix and then bake, they had a beautiful plump texture.
What To Use When Soaking Dried Fruits
Basically, we can soak dried fruits in anything liquid, even just a little water, milk or juice.
However, this soaking liquid can play a role in adding another layer of flavor to the fruit before adding it to a recipe.
For example; this recipe will have a few chopped apples in it, so a small amount of apple juice can be used to soak the dried fruit.
Another great opportunity to add a boozy element to the recipe, without adding more liquid to it, is to soak the dried fruits in booze!
A little goes a long way, and within minutes of soaking, the fruit plumps beautifully and adds a different dimension to the flavor profile.
Winter Fruit Pie With Booze
Alcohol has a unique way of extracting the essence of flavors from whatever is soaked in it.
Herbal tinctures are made from soaking herbs, seeds and other plant flavors in a flavorless alcohol, like vodka, for about 2 weeks.
The flavor and essence is then imparted into the vodka and used for cooking or medicine.
Dried fruits, when soaked for a short time in alcohol, plump the dried fruit back to life, and extract its sugar and flavor.
In this winter fruit pie, soaking the dried fruit in rum brings a luscious flavor to the pie so that the apples in it, take a backseat to the dried fruit and are there primarily for their juice.
The Perfect Pie Shell
While I love to bake so many different types of desserts, I will admit that pies are my favorite to eat and to bake.
Pie pastry can be as easy as a crushed mixture of nuts, grain and binder (egg white), pressed into a pie pan for the bottom crust, with a walnut crumb for the top crust.
Or if an elaborate two-crusted pie is what you’re after, once you have a rolled out pie crust perhaps take the easy route for the top by cutting out fancy designs with a cookie cutter and the excess pie dough, to lay on top.
For this winter fruit pie I covered the top of the pie with cut-outs from the scraps of pie crust, using leaf and acorn cookie cutters for a very autumn and winter appearance.
Other Pie Crust Options
While you can use a store-bought pie crust, graham cracker crust, phyllo dough or puff pastry as your pie crust, I have provided the recipe for the crust I prefer with this winter fruit pie.
It is stable enough to press out shapes to lay across the top of a pie. However, if you are in a hurry, a fast pie crust option is one I call ‘Phyllo Trash Pie Crust’!
Winter Pie Crusts Made Easy
Don’t be intimidated at making your own crust, simply toss all the ingredients into a food processor and let the machine do all the work.
Pie crusts are easy to patch together, even if it doesn’t roll out into one uniform piece of dough.
Afterwards, rather than roll out a second top, I cheat and use the scraps of pie dough to press small shapes (with a cookie cutter), to cover the top.
It actually looks more festive than the old-fashion cover, and not as difficult as a lattice.
Ingredients Needed
- Butter
- Flour
- Nuts
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Apples
- Dried fruit – of your choice
- Lemon
- Brown sugar
- Cornstarch or potato starch which I find makes for a silkier custard, gravy or sauce.
- Cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- Cloves
- Ginger
- Allspice
- Salt
- Rum
Equipment Needed
- Food processor
- Measuring cup
- Measuring spoons
- Spatula
- Rolling pin
- Baking dish
- Mixing bowl
- Cookie cutter – shapes that depict autumn or winter – these have been my favorites.
- Basting brush
- Oven
Classic Option For A Winter Pie
Throughout the winter months, we often turn to nuts and fruits for our desserts, such as the classic pecan pie or frozen cherries and blueberries as opposed to fresh fruit for a cherry pie or blueberry pie.
While bananas are often the only other fresh fruit I find available year-round, I somehow think of a banana cream pie as a summer pie. Maybe it’s the soft light color?
Have you ever tried a cranberry pie made with tart cranberries? Fresh cranberries are usually available in the autumn months, so just toss a few bags in your freezer for the dead of winter months ahead for a great vitamin rich cranberry pie.
Dried Fruit and Apple Winter Pie
Equipment
- Pie plate
- Cookie cutter
- Basting brush
Ingredients
- Crust cold
- 8 tbsp Cold unsalted butter
- 1 3/4 cups All purpose flour or spelt more for dusting
- 1/2 cup Walnuts, or preferred nut crushed
- 3 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Cloves
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 Cold egg
- 1-3 tbsp Cold water
- Filling
- 5 Apples peeled and shredded
- 2 cups Dried Fruit your choice
- 1/4 cup Rum or tequila
- 1 Lemon juice and zest
- 2 Eggs room temperature
- 1/2 cup Brown sugar extra for topping
- 1/4 cup Cornstarch or potato starch
- 1 tbsp Cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp Nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp Cloves
- 1/2 tsp Ginger
- 1 tsp Allspice
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 2 tbsp Cream or whole milk optional for brushing
Instructions
- CrustCrush the nuts first in the processor and then remove them. Place the butter, flour, spices and sugar into the processor and whisk together until all have incorporated. Add the nuts and pulse a few times.
- In a small bowl or cup, lightly whisk the egg with 1 tablespoon of cold water. With the machine running, slowly pour the egg mixture in. Let it run a few seconds until the dough comes together into a ball.
- If it still looks dry, then add a little water (while machine runs), until it comes together. The opposite if it looks too wet to form a ball, add a few pinches of flour at a time until it comes together.
- Roll out the crust on a floured surface until it is between 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch thick. Gather it around the rolling pin and place it in the pie pan. Trim edges and cut off excess dough, press neatly into the pan and crimp the edges. With a fork, prick the bottom of the pie shell.
- Toss the scrapes back into the processor, turn it on and add just a drop or two of water until it comes together into a ball again. Roll the dough out, press shapes with a cookie cutter, placing each on a parchment paper lined pan, brush the tops with a little cream and pop into the fridge until ready to use. Now let's make the filling!
- Preheat oven to 350 Place a piece parchment paper on a cookie sheet in case there are drips.
- FillingIn a small bowl soak the dried fruit in rum while peeling shredding the apples.Shredding the apple pieces can be done on a box grater or with a shredding attachment in the food processor.
- In a large bowl combine apples, lemon juice and zest, lightly whisked eggs, dried fruit with rum, sugar, and spices and toss well.
- Sprinkle cornstarch across the top and mix well. Really mix well.
- Transfer the fruit mixture into the crust-lined pan.Bake for 45-minutes. Remove the pie from the oven and quickly add the cutouts, sprinkle a little sugar on top (optional).
- Place the pie back into the oven and finish baking until the filling is firm and the crust is golden brown, about another 10-15 minutes.
Video
Notes
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.